The Baroque Era Composers (1600-1750)

​Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)

Bach was a German composer and musician known for his complex harmonies, use of counterpoint, and emotional depth. He wrote many famous pieces including the “Brandenburg Concertos,”  “The Well-Tempered Clavier,” “Mass in B minor” and many other cherished fugues, preludes, and other works. Throughout Bach’s life, he was mainly an organist known for his amazing ability to improvise (to make up music on the spot).

A Story About Bach

On May 7, 1747, Bach visited the Prussian king Frederick the Great. The king loved instruments. He had bought many of the newly invented fortepianos. Upon Bach’s arrival, the king asked Bach to improvise a fugue on the fortepiano from a theme he had written himself. Bach improvised a three-voice fugue, but the king demanded that he improvise an even more spectacular six-voiced fugue. This is really hard to do, so Bach improvised a six-voiced fugue on a theme of his own. When Bach returned home he was still thinking about the king’s request, so he wrote the six-voiced fugue with the king’s theme. He printed it with some other works and titled it “A Musical Offering.”

Bach’s Life

Bach was born in Eisenach, Germany in 1685. He was the youngest child of eight and the son of the director of town musicians. His father most likely taught him basic music theory and how to play the violin. Bach’s parents died when he was only ten, so he went to live with his oldest brother. It was there that he began studying the music in his brother’s library and copying it. His brother also taught him how to play the clavichord. 

After graduating from St. Michael’s in 1703, Bach took a position as a court musician in Weimar. His reputation as a keyboardist spread rapidly. He had many positions and became widely known as an improviser and keyboardist. In 1721, Bach married a woman named Anna Magdalena Wulcken and had twenty children together. Only half survived, but some became musicians like Bach. In 1750, Bach had a serious eye problem which made him go blind. He tried to have eye surgery, but it didn’t go well so he had to have another one the following month. He died later that year from a stroke and some believe it was a complication from the eye surgery.

George Frideric Handel (1685-1759)

George Frideric Handel, also a German composer, was known for his operas, oratorios, and instrumental music, and his most famous work is the oratorio “Messiah.” When Handel was young, he had to sneak up to the attic to play clavichord because his father did not want him to be a musician. Handel spent most of his life in England and became a naturalized British subject in 1727. Many of his greatest works were written later in his life. Three thousand people attended his funeral.

Handel Fun Facts

1. George Frideric Handel was born the same year as Bach, in 1685.
2. Handel’s father didn’t want him to be a musician.
3. Handel wrote “Music for the Royal Fireworks” to go with a fireworks display watched by 12,000 people.
4. Handel wrote “Water Music” to be played on a boat as the King travelled along the river Thames in London.
5. When Handel completed “Hallelujah” of his Messiah, he told his servant, “I did think I did see all Heaven before me, and the great God Himself seated on His throne, with His company of Angels.”
6. It’s a tradition to stand up when the “Hallelujah” chorus is being played because King George II stood up when he was listening to it. If the King stood up, this meant everyone else had to as well! But we don’t know the real reason he stood up. He may have had to use the restroom.
7. In 1704, Handel had a fight with a composer named Johann Mattheson. Mattheson almost killed Handel with his sword, but luckily it struck a button on Handel’s chest and didn’t hurt him.
8. Some of Handel’s biggest and best works were composed in the later stages of his life even though he had a stroke in 1737, was in a coach crash in 1750, and had cataracts, eventually going blind after a bad eye operation 1751.
9. Handel’s funeral was attended by 3,000 people.
10. Beethoven admired Handel and said, “He is the greatest composer that ever lived. I would uncover my head and kneel before his tomb,” and also said, ”Go to him to learn how to achieve great effects, by such simple means.”

Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741)

ANTONIO VIVALDI (1678-1741)

Antonio Vivaldi is an Italian born composer and virtuoso violinist. Vivaldi wrote over 500 pieces of music including, concertos, operas, and sacred works. 

Vivaldi’s Life
There was said to have been an earthquake the day Vivaldi was born but this was only a rumor. The real earthquake struck in 1688. His father most likely taught Antonio the violin. Antonio Vivaldi had red hair although he wore wigs because it was fashionable. Vivaldi was ordained as a priest in 1703. People gave him the nickname “The Red Priest,” because of his bright red hair. Soon after Vivaldi was ordained as a priest, he gave up celebrating mass due to what people now believe was asthma. 

Vivaldi’s first compositions were trio sonatas published in 1705. He began to composed sacred vocal music in 1713. Also in 1713, he began writing operas which were very controversial sometimes. Vivaldi fell out of fashion near the end of his life. He passed away in 1741 in poverty after falling ill. Vivaldi’s work was rediscovered in the 1920s and he again gained notoriety. More than 300 of his 500 compositions were concerti and 230 of those were composed for the violin. He had played the violin so well that he became one of the first “rock stars.”

The Four Seasons
The Four Seasons is a very famous collection of violin concerti and one of the first examples of program music. Program music is instrumental music that tells a story musically. It is usually based on a literary work or poem. When Vivaldi published The Four Seasons it was accompanied by a group of sonnets which he may have also written. The music shows through sound the things that happened in the sonnets. If you listen carefully, you can hear birds, barking dogs, and even hunters.

La Primavera (Spring)
Opus 8, No. 1, in E Major

Spring has come with joy
Welcomed by birds with joyous songs,
And the streams, amid gentle breezes,
Whisper softly as they sink.
The sky is covered in black and
Thunder and lightning announce the storm
When they are silent, the birds
Resume their delicious songs.

Allegro
Spring has come with joy
Welcomed by birds with joyous songs,
And the streams, amid gentle breezes,
Whisper softly as they sink.
The sky is covered in black and
Thunder and lightning announce the storm
When they are silent, the birds
Resume their delicious songs.

Largo and pianissimo sempre
And in the pleasant flowery meadow,
To the soft murmur of leaves and plants,
The goatherd sleeps, his faithful dog by his side.

Allegro
To the happy sound of a rustic bagpipe,
Nymphs and shepherds dance in their favorite place
When spring appears in all its glory.

L'Estate (Summer)
Opus 8, No. 2, in G minor

Allegro Con Molto
Under the unforgiving sun of the season
The man and the herd are languishing, the pine is burning.
The cuckoo begins to sing and immediately
The dove and the goldfinch join him.
A light breeze is blowing, but Boreas
Woke up to suddenly fight with his neighbor,
And the shepherd cries because above his head
The formidable storm and its destiny.

Adagio
His weary limbs are deprived of rest
Fear of lightning and scary thunder
And flies and hornets swarming.

Presto
Alas, his fears come true:
Thunder and lightning are raging in the skies.
And the hail cuts down the great wheat.

L'Autunno (Autumn)
Opus 8, No. 3, in F Major

Allegro
The peasant celebrates by dancing and singing
The pleasure of the rich harvest,
And full of Bacchus liquor
They end their rejoicings with a sleep.

Adagio molto
All are led to abandon the dances and the songs
By the air which, now sweet, gives pleasure
And by the season, which invites many
To find their pleasure in a sweet sleep.

Allegro
The hunters are ready just before dawn
With horns and rifles and a small pack of dogs,
Their prey flees quickly, they follow its scent,
Now they surprise it, stunned by the noise,
Of the rifles and dogs, it tries to fight back
But weakened by fleeing, it struggles and dies.


L'Inverno (Winter)
Opus 8, No. 4, in F minor

Allegro non molto
Frozen and shivering in the icy snow,
Under the battering of a terrible wind
Run stamping your feet every moment,
Teeth chattering in the cold.

Largo
Spend calm and happy moments by the fire
While outside the rain sprinkles everyone.

Allegro
Walking on the ice with hesitant steps,
By being careful, lest you fall.
Jump in haste, slip, and fall to the ground,
Get back on the ice and run,
In case the ice cracks and opens.
To hear, leaving their screened house, Sirocco,
Boreas, and all the winds in battle...
It’s winter, but it brings joy.